Pocomoke City, MD-

Joel J. Todd
State’s Attorney

Office of the State’s Attorney for Worcester County
The William G. Kerbin, Jr. Building
106 Franklin Street
Snow Hill, Maryland  21863
Michael W. Farlow        Paul Haskell
Deputy State’s Attorney        Deputy State’s Attorney
Circuit Court Division        District Court Division

February 26, 2010

To:    Local Media
From: Joel J. Todd
Re:    Identification of Human Remains

On February 26, 2010, the Office of the Medical Examiner for Maryland advised the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation that the human remains located in Snow Hill on February 19 were the remains of Christine Marie Sheddy.

Sheddy has been missing since November 14, 2007.  Since that time, the case has been handled as a “missing person” case by the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office and the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation.  Assisting in the investigation is the Maryland State Police and the Office of the State’s Attorney for Worcester County.

No cause of death has yet been determined.  All involved law enforcement agencies are treating this as a suspicious death.

Because this is a pending investigation, no further details will be disclosed at this time.

# # #

Arrest of a Familiar Name

Not to correct SA Joel Todd, but Christine was last seen the evening of November 12, 2007, which is believed to be the night she was murdered at the Byrd Road Farm.

While I respect the release, I have first hand knowledge that 3 detectives from WCBI were removed from this case so you will not find me congratulating that agency. Out of respect for Christine and her family, I will leave it at that for now.

Justin Michael Hadel, a guest at the farm home shared by Clarence “Jr” Jackson and his girlfriend Tia Johnson, was arrested yesterday in Tomball, Texas on a child obligation and fugitive warrant.

There is no further comment on any possible involvement in Christine’s murder.

Clarence Jackson is currently incarcerated in Hawkins County, TN for a burglary and arson conviction.

Check back to blinkoncrime for this developing story.

Snow Hill, MD– As we await confirmation from the Baltimore Medical Examiners Office regarding the remains recovered from the rear property of the Riverside Inn on February 19^th: 

Lynn Doddenhoff, Christine’s Mom, wishes to make the following statement.

We DO NOT have confirmation that the remains found in Snow Hill are Christine, but we remain hopeful that they will be identified as such.

When Blink and her team became involved in Christine’s case we were at a dead end.

Thanks to Blink’s efforts, public awareness was raised to a level that forced law enforcement to take a second look at her
disappearance.

Christine, my family and Blink have endured many personal attacks we never deserved. 

As we await word from the medical examiners office, we ask that you please pray for our family and the entire Blink team.

Without the tenacity of their work Christine’s case would never  have received the attention she deserves.

This will be the only statement I will make until official confirmation is made.

Lynn

BREAKING NEWS

Snow Hill, MD– Although officially unconfirmed, sources inside the investigation tell blinkoncrime.com that the female remains located on the rear property of the Riverside Inn Bed and Breakfast, are that of 26 year old missing Delaware woman Christine Sheddy.

Christine, Mother of 3, was last seen alive the evening of November 12, 2007 on the Byrd Rd farm property in Pocomoke City, MD.

Justice, Interrupted : A Mother’s Fight

Blinkoncrime.com was asked to investigate the disappearance of Christine Sheddy by Christine’s Mother, Lynn Dodenhoff, and members of her family and friends last Summer.

With the exception of a few outdated news articles and some good work by the folks at the Pocomoke Tattler,  we had to start from scratch. Yes, it is as hard as it sounds save for the fact that our initial primary source of information came from the one woman that vowed to bring her daughter home: her Mom.

This most tenacious woman did more investigative work on her daughter’s disappearance than the detectives tasked with finding her. In fact, one of the primary witnesses in this case was not interviewed until Fall of last year after I interviewed him twice and our series on Christine was on it’s fifth chapter.

At the request of the Maryland State Police and the Doddenhoff  and Sheddy families, the blinkoncrime team will be limiting coverage regarding the actual facts of the internal investigation of Christine’s case as it is continuing.

Joel Todd, Worcester State Attorney, disclosed that a tip led investigators to the scene as part of a “larger investigation.” Through the good work of a special investigator from Todds’ office and that of the Maryland State Police, who received Christine’s case less than a week ago, it seems that Christine and her family’s quest for answers surrounding her disappearance and murder will be forthcoming.

Courtesy of delmarva now Eric Doerzbach

Pictured above are VanMuir- WCBI, Joel Todd- SA, Scott Brent- MSP,  Mike Fowler-ADA and Jim Seibert, WCBI.

Check back to blinkoncrime.com for updates to this developing story.

Other Christine Sheddy coverage can be found here.

Pocomoke City, MD– Christine Sheddy was murdered on the Byrd Rd Farm in Pocomoke City on the evening of November 12, 2007.

The series of events that led up to her murder are stupifying.  

Of Particular concern is the rash of fires occuring on the farm and within surrounding areas in the time frame of both of Christine’s visits there.

As the September alarms are no longer accessible on the Pocomoke Volunteer Fire Department Site, you are looking at a cached version confirming the call to the farm and the fact that photos DID exist of what was assuredly a major fire. Three different stations responded at a minimum. The Images have been deleted.

The day before the Byrd road chicken house fire on September 20th, the Showell Fire Department extinguished this chicken house fire:

Also a cached version of deleted information from the PVFD site, is this October Alarm Source, through October 23^rd, 2007:

Effective October 1, 2007 the Worcester County Fire Marshalls Office takes over.

“..The Worcester County Fire Marshal’s Office is responsible for conducting fire investigations of all fires in the County where arson is suspected, the fire is undetermined by the fire department, and/or an injury or death has occurred. The Worcester County Fire Marshal’s Office is the local enforcing agency for 3 municipalities and the County…”

 

Note the October 10th alarm for yet again, a subsequent fire in the chickenhouse on Byrd Road. 

On October 11, the neighbors who have already been vicitmized by the Clarence Butch “ Jr” Jackson crew, are victimized again. As you can see the Fire Marshall visits Byrd Road.

What the record does not say, is that the neighbors are awakened at 3 am by the Fire Marshall and Deputy Parnell from the PCPD. They were told if they called the Fire Department one more time for fires on the neighboring property, they would be arrested.

On the exact same day that JR Jackson unsuccessfully seeks peace orders against the neighbors that are simply trying to avoid the menace of his existance at this point are denied on October 13th; there is another chicken house fire. Fire Police and Pocomoke PD are in attendance.

Another outside fire call on October 17^th. There is no data past October 23^rd on fire activity available for this time frame. 

The November calls have been deleted entirely by the Pocomake VFD. The site is managed and maintained by “Choppy Layton” a long time Vounteer Fire Fighter and by all accounts, a solid guy. 

What is astounding, is that I am in receipt of an email that confirms a witness gave a statement to Detective Trautman, the original detective in this case, on February 12, 2008.

Should we consider it a coincidence then, that the last time the PVFD site is updated, and apparently when the November alarms were deleted is February 12, 2008?

We have eyewitness accounts of fires on the Byrd Road farmhouse from November 9^th through the 13th at a minimum. Fire Police and Marshalls have been to the property.  By my accounting, we are talking in the neighborhood of 12 fire alarms to this property alone, starting one month after an emergency outdoor burn ban.    

Why hasn’t Clarence Jackson been charged with arson?

Any other suspects? Dead Issue? We know there are surveillance still pictures and security guard witnesses, what did they see?

What is the ratio of alarm calls versus arson arrests? 

I digress.

Who was copied on the confirmation email containing a witness statement on February 12, 2008?

Michael McDermott. 

Pocomoke City, MD– One thing that has been bothering the blinkoncrime.com team in Christine’s case, is that we hear about fire after fire that Clarence “JR” Jackson set, at the Byrd Road address. 

However, there are no incident reports that we know of, from witness accounts that the Pocomoke City Fire Department was called on November 9^th at a minimum.

You will find fire fighter pictures and coverage from August 2007 on the site, followed by current footage. There are no pics or reports of the Byrd Rd address, although there are several witness accounts of multiple fires on the property, and of course the flue fire from November 9, 2007.

What is also not listed there, is the fact that James “Keven” Hall, the training OFFICER for Pocomoke City FD, is a registered violent sex offender.

Could he be related to Levi and Joyce Hall? Is that the reason that the searches on the property where the Pocomoke City FD were in attendance yielded nothing? It would seem finding her remains would yield heavy coverage. In turn, this information would have been discovered early.

What effect, if any, has this had on the Christine Sheddy case?

Editors Note 9/6/09:

I have re-read this article numerous times. How in the world any person could “take away” from it that my team or I, in any shape, form or fashion, have anything but the utmost respect for the thousands of men and women in this country that volunteer their time and risk their safety for ours is ludicrous. There is no such allegation or inference of any kind.

Anyone alleging that has their own agenda and it is painfully transparent to all.

For starters, I am the granddaughter of a United States Marine that fought valiantly in the 2 bloodiest battles in WWII who declined a full ride football scholarship to Duke for the privelege. I have nothing but respect and support for any public servant. To suggest otherwise when my Poppa has had such a profound effect on my life is an insult to his memory.

Secondly, a member of my team’s Father is a retired volunteer fire fighter with 25 years of service. She knows first hand what it’s like when Dad is called out right when dinner starts or when was mostly inconvenient. 

I watched both the WTC towers crumble from a hill in Boonton, NJ after being diverted on my way into the city for a meeting at a client who saw the first plane hit from her office window.  I will never in my life forget the smell in the air downtown a week later when my meeting was rescheduled.

I stopped at the corner where the National Guard was now positioned and bought a bouquet and went into the Ladder Company on Water St.

There were pictures of 9 Firefighters that were missing or dead. I hugged a man I never met and blubbered in front of a work associate. I hung their prayer book in my office. These people are Heroes.

H E R O E S.

The issue here is there are records that have been pulled from view intentionally, including pictures that encompass the time frame that a young mother of 3 was murdered on a farm that there were several alarms to. 

If someone does not see how this is relative to a murder investigation that occurred at the property, potentially by a person of interest who started the fires in the first place, I am at a loss.

The business at hand is finding Christine Sheddy.